Friday, May 29, 2009

Friday, May 29, 2009
Great NEWS!!! We have a masthead light. We were unable to get the wires down the chase inside the mast but we ran them in the mast and hopefully they won't clang-clang in rough seas. We think that the PVC pipe chase must have fallen down inside the mast all the way to the bottom and someday when we step the mast, we'll correct this (just not now). The most frustrating part is that when Darrell pulled the old wires, there was a break in one wire about 2-3 inches from the top that we couldn't see. Oh well, we have new wire in there that we know will last another 20 years barring anymore lightening strikes. I am busily doing online searches for the other electrical parts so if any of you find chartplotters or anemometers or inverters in your storage sheds, give us a call.

Last night we had a surprise visit from Captain Jorge and Chelsea. We heard "Hello Neighbor" from a slowed passing boat and I said - that sounds like Jorge. Anyway they spent about 45 minutes touring and visiting. For thsoe of you who don't know him - Jorge worked with us at Kelly's and he was our mentor when we were studying to become captains. It was a very happy reunion!

Probably another trip up the mast today to complete some previous work and then we hope to return the bosun's chair that we have borrowed. Perhaps next post I can put a picture from above and below with "one of us" up there. Just waiting on the clouds to clear out so we aren't human lightening rods.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Longtime between posts. We have been busy with divers over Memorial Day weekend and in between work, we trudge away at the tasks at hand. We have determined that the wires inside the mast to the top for the anchor light were probably fried and neither of us can get them to come out the top or the bottom of the chase in the mast. Ann has gone up the mast (50 + ft) two or three times and Darrell has one or two - it is really fun up there except when a boat comes by and makes a big wake - then you cling to it until the waters calm down.

According to all that we can test and all that we can read, most electrical items on the boat will eventually get replaced. They are just not built to withstand that kind of current over that short of a time. We have resigned ourselves to slowly but surely work on one item at a time - we sometimes get impatient and want her back the way she was! We are still VERY ahppy with the boat and very proud to be the owners. We started the porcess of getting all the documentation changed over - I know we should have started this sooner but didn't.

We're looking into making a trip home to Texas in early June. Plans have yet to be finalized but we'll be "landlubbers" for a few days then. We are looking forward to the chance to hug Jessica and tell her in person how very proud we are of her for making the cut for Dental Hygeine school!

More later,
Sparky and the gang

Monday, May 18, 2009





Monday, May 18, 2009


These pictures show the after and the before of the fateful lightening strike. We are all safe and well following the incident but still trying to sort out what electronics were adversely affected. We are fast becoming better at electrical work and testing!






Friday, May 15, 2009

We had a storm pass through the upper keys this evening. We were on the sailboat having just finished the work day and busy doing projects. There were lightening strikes all around us until boom - one struck our mast at about 8 PM. We are just beginning to sort out which electrical systems were affected. We are all fine but it had us rattled for a while. We need to listen to Roxy better. About 15-30 minutes earlier, she was looking at the dinghy like she was about to get in it. She knew it was made of rubber and a safer place to be for what was coming! Anyway we have a new "list" to get to work on. I love making lists!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009







Wednesday, May 13, 2009

We continue to be so happy with our Alibi! We are working away at the "to do" list and feel like we are making great progress. Dick and Nelda took such good care of Alibi that the list is not all that long. Most of our projects revolve around the fact that she was in dry storage for a while AND she is not a new boat. Anyway I am scratching things from the list every day.
We were busy this weekend with lots of divers here so not much progress was made but we earned our keep. We are now into our typical summer weather pattern with less wind and more heat/humidity. That almost shuts down progress on "the list" during the middle of the day as it is like a sauna when you're working in some of the tight places on a boat - speaking of that, I was reading a list of things that Dick made up for us and had a great laugh this morning. One task on the boat is to change the oil in the windlass periodically and it is not an easy one for anything larger than a pigmy. Dick said we should train a monkey or find a small child to help us with that task. Guess who gets to perform those tasks that Darrell is too big to do - you guessed it - Annie!

The last couple of days had me crawling into the cabinet under the sink to replace a hose from the propane locker. Darrell couldn't get his shoulders through the opening. The picture shows the cabinet right next to the trash can. Yes you could say it was hot in there and since the hose had probably been there since the boat was new, it didn't want to come off. I hope that I sweated off a couple of pounds doing that! I'm on my way to West Marine to pick up a rebuild kit for our main water pump. We were showing off the boat to a friend (Pam Wilson) the other day and when Darrell opened a cabinet to show her the storage space we have, he noticed some water. When I ran the galley sink faucet, water shot out of the top of the pump. We were really lucky to have discovered it with minimal amounts of water in that compartment. Needless to say we are building a check list for daily, weekly, and periodic things to watch. We went to West Marine yesterday for two items and came away with a sack full of stuff - bet they are glad to see us come in their store.

I know this is long but I have to tell a story about our trip up the sound here for lunch. We had seen a sailboat come through (see photo above) that we hoped to get a closer look at so off we went to Gilbert's for lunch via dinghy. Of course Roxy lover the long ride :) Anyway I was reminded of the days when Jessica had a trampoline and we used to play "popcorn". The little waves out there on the bay caused Ann and Roxy to bounce quite a bit and I told Darrell that it reminded me of :popcorn". When Jessica used to do that to me I would get the giggles and laugh until I cried and I am smiling now just thinking about those times.

Darrell went diving this morning so I know that he will be coming back glowing from doing something that he loves. We are doing very well here and hope to get to come to Texas for a visit soon. I've also pasted a picture of my DEAR friend Kelly above. She and her husband and their dog became such great friends to us while they were here. They were making their way from here to the Virgin Islands on their sailboat when her grandmother became ill and had to have urgent surgery on the arteries in her neck. Before Kelly could get to an airport to fly home her grandmother died following surgery. My heart goes out to Kelly for her loss. And we hope Stephen and Jake are not missing her too bad while she's stateside taking care of family business.
Love to all,
Ann, Darrell, & Roxy

Friday, May 8, 2009



Captain Darrell at the helm!


Remember the part about Darrell not getting the motor started......well here they are rowing to shore (potty call) at Rockhouse Creek in Ponce de Leon, FL - the no-see ums were about to eat Darrell up - in fact he had to close hie eyes at times to keep them out of his eyes! I almost got the lighthouse in this picture - it was beautiful!!!

See the boat behind Darrell - they didn't hug the north shore like Dick told us to do and they were aground for about 15 minutes while Darrell and Roxy were running up and down the beach.


There is a tiny little red and white dog's head peaking out of the mess we made on Alibi during the survey - this was Roxy's first visit on the boat and she was at home instantly!


Sunset off the coast of Florida.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Gosh if this life gets much better I don’t know what we will do! We spend so little time at the house and only stop by to pick up a few items. As I said before, it truly is a very short ride to the dock when I need to get to work. We have to go take care of “land-based” things every now and then but only when we have to. The weather has been wonderful and gorgeous sunsets - tonight we enjoyed a live band from the shore. We have some people who are looking real hard at buying this dive shop from us - and yes, we’ll let them so we can be free to take Alibi where she is FREE. A busy weekend coming up for the dive business so don’t look for a lot of progress on “the List” but keep tuned - we might get to sail her again next week!

Love,
Darrell & Ann, and Roxy
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Slowly but surely we are crossing items off the “to do “ list. I had to work a lot to catch up at the dive shop yesterday. I did make a trip to the house to pick up some things and co course stopped at West Marine! Mothers day cards went in the mail yesterday. The dinghy got repaired yesterday but still has a slow leak - they make some stuff to put inside that must be sorta like “fix-a-flat”. That will be our next move. I moved the electric coffee pot on board and now we don’t have to wait 45 minutes for it to perk. We’re next on the list for the county “pump out” boat as it seems that the holding tank is full. (It’s a short dinghy ride to the dock - thank God!). I still have not quite figured out the SSB radio. I know the frequency and time that Selkie is contacting the USVI but have yet to hear the transmissions. I am listening to the same frequency right now and there is a broadcast called “under way”. Good way to keep up with fellow cruisers - they are good people. Well, it is time to close this report and begin “the List” for today. Stay tuned!



Monday, May 4, 2009


We took her to the dock at Sr. Frijoles and gave her a good scrubbing - she loved her bath! Then we had our second boat guests - Jack and Donna De Vore. They were so gracious to give us a gift card from West Marine - Thanks Guys!! AND they taught us how to light the oven!! We now have hot water fro the water heater (hooked up) and don’t have to depend on the sunshower exclusively anymore. Darrell can’t get me to go to the house to sleep anymore. In fact, we are sleeping SO WELL on her. Tomorrow we will have to go back to work but it is a short dinghy ride over to the dock.

Sunday, May 3, 2009 - Yup we missed a whole day! Feels like it too! She is home in Key Largo and we have begun work on “the List” that we made to make her ready for many more miles. After two years of storage there are some minor repairs that we are busy doing but we both agree she could take us anywhere we want to go - right now (thanks Dick and Nelda for taking such good care of her).

Friday, May 1, 2009

We made it as far as Ft. Pierce last night just before dark at 7 ish to an anchorage outside of Harbortown Marina. The fuel dock closed at 6:30 and we couldn’t get there by that time. We took a dinghy ride in to the marina for Roxy and I told Darrell that I thought that the water was deep enough to cut across the anchorage and we WENT AGROUND in the dinghy!!!! Darrell had to “walk” the boat out to deeper water - of course me and Roxy stayed dry - HA! It was so shallow that only about 1-2 inches of the bottom of his shorts even got wet!!! Yes, he was not real happy with me. When we left the next morning, the sailboat anchored where tried to cut acorss the the night before was aground and trying to get himself off. We got fueal that morning and decided to take Alibi out to sea to see what she would do. Dick told us “now when you decide to go outside be sure to tie everything down real well”. We went through the Ft. Pierce inlet and it was four foot waves in short succession and I tried to go too fast through them. I almost beat Darrell up in the cockpit! The dinghy needed more tie-downs since she had lost air during the trip. I had take care of the inside since I was used to stowing things in a camper for rough traveling roads. Anyway - we now know what Dick meant!!!!!!
Well she really sails nice! She was so happy to spread her sails and run up the coast of Florida - really down the coast! You could tell that she was happy to be back on the water. When the day was fading and it got close to time to look for an anchorage, I let Darrell talk me into a “night” sail. So we just kept going. We motor sailed a lot but could make good (as good) speed without the motor. Fastest speed noted was 8 Kts but the average speed was about 6 kts. We were both worried that I wouldn’t be able to sleep so Darrell took most of the Helm hours. I did get about 1 ½ hours of sleep and felt GOOD after I got up. I took the helm and we made “NO Name Harbor” at around 8-9 am. For those who don’t have a chart, this is in Biscayne Bay just south of Miami - we were in our backyard - finally!!!. Darrell was worn out from the night sail and needed rest BADLY! I took the helm again (after taking Roxy ashore) and we started the last leg into Key Largo. We arrived by 7 PM to find our mooring was GONE! We thought that a boat was there when we arrived was taking it because there was a lot of mud stirred up. Anyway we dropped the anchor and stayed on the boat that night.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

We tried to leave as early as possible so the law didn’t come after us for anchoring where it is no longer legal to anchor. Last night Dan showed Darrell the “secret” to the outboard motor - there is a “deadman” kill switch like they have on jet skis which I had seen hanging next to the stairs and wondered why we had one. We got underway at 7:20 and motor sailed south in the ICW again. We are finding many things weathered and brittle from storage and age. The lines are weathered but good for now. Can’t figure out how to get hot water without the sun shower. I also couldn’t get the oven to light but I WILL figure it out!!!! Darrell has been busy tinkering and we take turns at the helm. We woke up extremely early today and I got a little grumpy with D. Of course waking up at all hours of the night because we are EXCITED about this new adventure is nothing new for us. We have seen dolphins multiple times a day - every day. Today we saw an Osprey nest with a mother and 1-2 babies. Winds have been 10-20 Knots today and we have had the main up as much as possible.
Wednesday April 29, 2009

We got an earlier start at 7:30 after Darrell took Roxy to shore for a bathroom break. He couldn’t get the dinghy motor started (more about that later). We experimented with the two fore sails today and got more comfortable with which lines control what and how to trim them. We didn’t lift the dinghy onto the arch but dragged/towed it. We only made 49 NM in 12 hours today (perhaps there is more drag from that rubber thing with a 15 hp motor on it ???? W e anchored next to Cocoa Bridge (illegal now Dick) and Darrell rowed ashore for Roxy and to pick up our first boat guest. I was cooking dinner while the boys and Roxy tried to get back to Alibi but the winds had picked up considerably AND Darrell didn’t take time to pump up the dinghy (oh yeah there are some leaks that Dick couldn’t find and we sure haven’t had time to look for but we think this is as good as a stair climber for us to get in better shape.) Anyway while I was cooking I would go up and down the companionway stairs to see where they were every now and then. I finally had to throw them the lifeline to get them back to the boat before the dinghy sunk!! Anyway, Dan (we call him NASA Dan but he answers to Dr. Dan and Lt. Dan) stayed for dinner and cocktails before he had to leave because he had to dive the next morning.
Tuesday, April 28, 2008
This morning we had to return the rental car (they were closed last night by the time we could have left it) so Dick picked up Darrell and we spent the next 1-2 hours going over some of his notes – and let me tell you that man kept some excellent records on Alibi! We left the dock at 9:45 AM motoring south on the ICW ( Intracoastal Waterway ). We motored nine hours and forty-five minutes for a total of 55 nautical miles and anchored just before dark at Ponce de Leon, FL.
Monday, April 27, 2009
This morning we rented a car, packed it to the roof with items we had taken off Lil’un and left with Roxy for St. Augustine. We drove straight through and crammed McDonald’s food in while we watched the boat yard get ready to launch Alibi. She went into the water at about 3PM just after Dick (one of the former owners) slapped some more bottom paint on her. Darrell had a slight learning curve to docking her, especially with strong currents in the river near the boat yard. We worked like dogs unloading our stuff , going to Dick and Nelda’s (the other former owner) and buying provisions for the trip. We dropped into bed and “one of us” (me) slept hard for most of the night. Darrell, however, hardly slept! The strong flow with the current change at 3 AM almost turned her sideways at the dock.
Check back later today for details of our trip from St. Augustine!